Monday, October 31, 2011

Hope and Flowers

Hi Everyone!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Ours was great! Jonathan had a great birthday and was super excited about all the very cool toys he got. We are looking forward to trick or treating tonight. I was glad that I was able to do some stamping over the weekend, because today is just going to be too busy to do any!
So, on to the card. I created this for the final week of the Viva La Verve sketch challenge this month. The sketches this month were all so very awesome and I thoroughly enjoyed each of them. Once again, I have linked all the products at the bottom for you in case you are interested in learning more about them. Have a great day and Happy Halloween!!

Challenges for today's card: 
Card Makin Mamas: Die Cuts
Cuddly Buddly: White on White
Lily Pad: Texture
Raise The Bar: Sew What (stitching, real or faux)
Hiding in my Craft Room: Anything Goes
Marks Finest Papers: Use your scraps
Sweet Stampin: Anything goes

Friday, October 28, 2011

"Monkey Man" Happy Birthday!

Hi everyone! Today I am here to share a very special card with you. On Sunday my youngest son will turn six years old. Oh goodness, where has that time gone?!! I wanted to do a very fun, bright and cheerful card for him. I call Jonathan and my little "monkey man" so this stamp from Stampendous was just perfect! I used papers from Lime Twist's Fly a Kite 6x6 paper pad. My coordinating colors are Hawaiian shores, Pumpkin Pie, Pure Poppy and some green textured card stock from Bazzil. I stamped the image on watercolor paper and used my aqua painters and watercolor pencils to give him a little color. As you can see, I have started to list the products used for each card I post. If you click on the picture of an item, it will take you to a location where you can purchase the item if you are interested. That's all for me today! Enjoy your weekend, and I'll see you all on Monday!

Challenges for today's card:

4 Crafty Chicks: Paper Piercing
Art Impressions Stamp Challenge: Card for a Young Boy
Charisma Cardz: Anything Goes
Cute Card Thursday: Sketch
Shelly's Images: Tic Tac Toe (I chose the middle line: Twine, Free, Punches)

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Black and White Hello

Hello Everyone!

Yesterday when I was trying to decide what sketch I should use for my card, I finally remembered it was Wednesday; and Wednesday means SCS sketch day! It has been positively Fuh-Evah since I have done one of these. I just always forget, which seems to be the case with a lot of things in my life lately, LOL!
Anyhow, I thoroughly enjoyed this sketch; and it allowed me to do some other challenges easily as well. I really meant to get it up yesterday; but I just ran out of time.  It's all pretty simple, so I'm going to get this posted and linked to the appropriate challenges.

365 Cards: Everyday Sayings
Craft Room Challenge: Black and White
Crafty Sentiments Designs: No Designer Papers
Creative Craft Challenges: Fancy Edges.
My Time To Craft: Quite White
The Paper Shelter Challenge: Anything Goes
Scrapbook Sisters: Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp: Anything Goes

Links for Supplies used in this card:

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Christmas Tree Joy

Good Morning Everyone!

I'm here to share my card for yesterday's Mojo Monday sketch. I decided to make a Christmas card. I'm not sure why it is, I seem to be on a Christmas card kick already which means I'll probably be completely over them by the time Thanksgiving rolls around! LOL. Anyhow, for this card I used Simply Chartreuse, Aqua Mist, and Ruby Red along with pattern papers from The Season's Greeting 6x6 paper pad from Echo Park.
I stamped and embossed the Tree from Inkadinkado on white card stock with Peeled Paint Distress Ink and clear embossing powder. I used my blending tool with Antique Linen, Vintage Photo, Crushed Olive and Fired Brick Red Distress inks to create the background for the image. I used a blender pen with Peeled Paint, Broken China and Fired Brick Red to add the color to the tree. The Circle and "Joy" Sentiment are from Verve's "Tag Time" set. I used some ribbon and button with the twine to secure the tag. I added some gold stickles and some red stickles to the scalloped edges on the left side; and then the gold brads at the top corner to complete the card.

Only one other challenge for this card:

Crafting When We Can: Christmas

Have a great day!!

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Laugh a Little

Hi Everyone!

I hope your are enjoying your weekend. I made this card on Friday; but just haven't had a chance to post it until now. This is my card for this week's Viva La Verve Sketch Challenge. I embossed the polka dot background on the Simply Chartreuse background with Versa Mark and clear embossing powder. The striped patterned paper is from Simple Stories "Happy Day"  6x6 paper pad.  The balloon is from Verve's Up Up and Away. I stamped it with Memento Rich Cocoa ink and then used Copic Markers to color it in. I added the bits of bling to balloon for a little sparkle. The sentiment is from Hero Arts "Live Life" set and is stamped with Ruby Red ink onto Verve's "Graph Paper" Plain Jane that I stamped with Old Olive ink and cut out.
Enjoy the rest of your Sunday and I will see you all tomorrow!!

Challenges: 
Charisma cardz: embossing
Southern Girls: Spots and Stripes
4 Crafty Chicks: Marker it Up
Fairy Fun Fridays: heat embossing
Corrosive Challenge Blog: Things that fly
Kenny K's Krafty Girlz: Get Dotty
One Stitch at a Time: Emboss it
Pile it on: Be happy
Scrappy Frogs Challenge: Things that fly

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Mojo Noel and a Snowflake Too!

Hi everyone I am finally here to share my Mojo Monday card for this week with you. I'm sorry that I have not been here this week to share with you; but I have been very busy crafting.
I just have not had a whole lot of time to blog. I am currently working on Christmas cards that I will be sharing with you after Thanksgiving. I have also been working hard on Christmas cards to send to Operation Write Home. They have to be there by October 31 so that has been taking a lot of my time as well. Anyways on to today's card. This was a fun sketch and one that I enjoyed doing very much I used some new patterned papers from Echo Park called Holly Jolly Christmas.I used Aqua Mist, New Leaf,  and Blushing Bride from Papertrey ink. I also used Taken with Teal and Ruby Red from Stampin Up! As with any Mojo Monday sketch I always try to use at at least one Verve stamp. For this card is the grid tag stamp is from their "Tag Time" set. The NOEL sentiment in the center of the tag is from a set of stamps purchased at Michael's. The snowflake in the bottom corner is from an Inkadinkado set. I embossed the snowflake using tumbled glass distress ink and Irridescent embossing powder to give it a little sparkle and shine. The rest of the card is self explanatory and I am getting ready to move on to my next crafting project; and pick up the kids from school!  So with that I will bid you all goodbye for the day. Enjoy the rest of your evening and I will hopefully see you again tomorrow!

Other Challenges:

KB Cute Monday: Anything Goes
Woodware USA: Anything Goes
My Time To Craft: Punches and/or Die cuts

Monday, October 17, 2011

Love Beautiful You

Hi Everyone!

Hope you all had a fun weekend. Ours was low-key; but still fun. I was completely and shamefully lazy on Saturday; but I did do some crafting. Yesterday, we made Halloween cookies and played the Wii in the afternoon and I was able to make this card for Viva La Verve's sketch for week 3 October. It took me all day to do it! LOL because I did a little and then stopped and then came back and just tweaked it more and more. I finally got it finished and I have to say, I really like the end result. A few weeks ago, I took advantage of the sale that 2 Peas was having on 6x6 paper Pads. I bought 4 Christmas pads and 4 other pads. The one I used on this card is from Jillibean Soup "Dutch Mustard Soup" pad. I love the greens and browns,oranges and yellows in this collection. I used Verve's "You and I" set along with the "I Heart U" Die Set. I also used some Real Juicy Orange Sparkly Fluff from Our Craft Lounge just to dazzle things up a bit.

Challenges:

Inspire Me Fridays:  Anything Goes
Catered Crop: FTR23. (I used: Fall Colors, Pattern Paper, Ribbon, buttons, Die cuts and Punches)
Pan Pastel: Add two buttons
Stamptacular Sunday: Anything goes

Have a great day everyone!

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Rock Star Birthday

Hi Everyone!

Taking a break from Christmas cards for you to share a quick birthday card. I decided to use the classic color combination of black, white and red on this one. I got the layout idea for this card from an issue of
"Just Cards" magazine.
The guitar stamp is from Inkadinkado's "Rock Star" set. The birthday sentiment on the side is rub-on from Stampin Up!
So, just a quick easy card. I'm off to work on another card and some layouts. Have a great day everyone!

Challenges: 
Divas by Design: Buttons
Sisterhood of Crafters: Birthday
Whimsy Stamps Challenge: Diecuts or punches
Celebrate the Occasion: Any Occasion must use black and red
Charisma Cardz: In stitches (real or faux)

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Santa Claus is coming....(eventually!)

Hi Everyone!

Just another little Christmas card for you this afternoon. I used Monday's Mojo Monday sketch for this card. I don't have any Verve Christmas stamps; but anytime I do a Verve related challenge, I try to use at least one Verve Stamp. For this card, I used "Tag Time" for the curvy book plate stamp. The "Santa Claus" stamp in the middle is from a set of Christmas stamps that I picked up last year from Michael's. I stamped the Santa Claus image with Bravo Burgundy and the sentiment with Charcoal Chalk ink from Color Box.  I used patterned papers from American Crafts "Merrymint" collection and various other coordinating papers for it. I'm not sure that the Martha Stewart Lattice punch at the top was the best choice; but I just bought it the other day and I couldn't wait to use it!! I also got some baker's twine, and I added some of that to the top as well.
Just a couple of other challenges for this card:

1. Anything Goes: Die Cuts or Punches
2. Paper Take Weekly Challenge: 3 or more shapes. (rectangular for the base, the 2 squares and the curvy label)

Have a great evening, and I'll be back again tomorrow!!



Friday, October 7, 2011

The "Mommy" Degree

Eight years ago, my husband and I made a decision for me to not return to work and instead stay home with our then 2 year old daughter. We had just relocated to Okinawa Japan and I had spent the last 3 years working at an inner city high school in Kansas City. Jim had been at EWS in Quantico, so life had just been very crazy. I was so happy to just be able to concentrate on being a mommy and a wife. We had wonderful new friends and just when I thought life couldn't get any better, I found out I was pregnant. 2 months later, Jim left for Iraq and we began our first deployment. Okinawa was the revolving door of TAD assignments for Jim; but that didn't stop us from becoming pregnant with baby #3. As I watched my babies begin and continue to grow, I slowly realized that my life was changing in ways I had not imagined nor in ways I had planned. I found myself seeing my hard -earned college degree slipping further and further into the background of diapers and bottles; sippy cups and toys.
I found myself thinking and wondering what happened to my 10 year after college plan? You know, the one that said I was going to go to teach for a few years, then go to graduate school, then get married and start a family and one day get to law school. I was going to be the all around well balanced woman, the mom with a career, shuffling everyone off to the school bus before I totally wowed the legal world in my designer suits and high heels. Instead, I found myself trying to get stains out of my T-shirts, throwing my hair up in a ponytail AGAIN and wondering if I was ever going to sleep through the night or eat a hot meal again. Being married to a Marine also made things interesting as the revolving door of various assignments became a steady factor in our lives as well.
I was for a time very resentful of many things that were part of being a stay-at-home mom. I loved and obviously still do love all my amazing children; but really?? I had worked HARD in high school and college..DAMN hard. I had a great time, yes and I partied with the best of them (sometimes, I marvel at the fact I made it out of college alive!) but I still drug my butt to every 8 am class, turned in every paper, spent the hours of research in the library for the dozens of history classes I was taking; and even went to a 6-9pm lab every Thursday for a BIO class. What was I doing with my life now??! I mean, seriously, how many episodes of Barney and Thomas the Tank Engine was I going to have to endure?!
Well, as time passed and the years went by, the doubts began to clear and the answers became more and more obvious. Reagan went from being 2 years old to 11 in the blink of an eye. Her caring and compassion for her friends and family inspires me everyday. Tyler has a never-ending desire to constantly learn and excel at everything he does. Jonathan has the most natural comedic personality I've ever seen. He keeps us all laughing all the time! They are all vibrant, healthy and excited about life. We pack them up and move them from one state to another every 3-4 years and they never miss a beat. New schools, new friends and new routines.  They just adjust and adapt and continue with life.
I have come to realize that while our decision for me to stay home has certainly come with some sacrifices, it has also given me the ability to teach and to inspire them; to shape them and prepare them for the future ahead and to build a foundation of skills I hope they continue to use throughout life. Most importantly, however I have come to realize that they inspire me and teach me more than any college degree or career ever could!

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Life is Beautiful

Hi Everyone!!

Wow! It's been a few days since I've been able to post anything. Not really sure why, just seem to be running behind on everything this week. In my last post, I had commented and said that I was going to be playing along with Kristina Werner's Holiday Card Series and I still have every intention of doing so. However, I came to the realization that I don't have nearly the amount of Christmas supplies I need to make a go of doing all 25 cards. Soooo, what's a crafter to do??? Well, buy more crafting supplies of course!! I made an order over at 2Peas, taking advantage of their 6x6 paper pad sale they are having at the moment. I am going to wait for that to come and then make the cards and probably post them a little later in the season.
Ok, so things will just be normal here on the blog...well as normal as they can be I suppose! The card I have to share with you today is this past week's Mojo Monday. This was an easy sketch to work with and I decided to use a variety of pattern papers from the Mirabelle Card stock Mat Pack
along with Kraft, Scarlet Jewell and Vintage Cream from PTI. I distressed the edges of the card and then also added some vintage photo and antique linen distress inks. You know, distressing is an odd thing, isn't it? I always feel like I distress a lot around the edges of my cards and then I take a picture of it, and it never seems as though the photo really conveys the stressing.
The flower is from Verve "Sunny Days" and the label in the middle is from Verve's "Tag Time"
In retrospect, I probably should have moved the label and the flower down and over to the bottom corner slightly; but I did not...so oh well!

Challenges for this card:

1. Craft Your Passion: Anything Goes plus Ribbon
2. Crafty Cardmakers: Anything Goes
3. Heart Song Inspiration: Anything Goes
4. Woodware USA: Anything Goes
5. Anything Goes Challenge: Die cuts or punches (I used the Fiskars Scalloped Sentiment punch)
6. Paper Take Weekly: Anything Goes
7. Paper and Such Designs: Recipe. (I chose the Designer paper, 1 flower and ribbon for my 3 items)
8. Truly Scrumptious: Distressing

Have a wonderful day everyone!